After The Tribute Money, 1425
First notice how the loadstone nimbi
weigh down it’s what Massacio wanted—
the clouds the denuded
foothills pressed beneath the sky
it’s the bleak hour
of sundown when dinner is over
the twenty-tongued waters pull
at the cedars
where are all the women
why not a flush of kaolinite
a mother washing her boy’s fat belly
in resinous light but instead
we are stuck under this unbearable
oneness of sky and sea sea
and the fish which sparkles
and knows it will die
choking oxygen which tastes of flame
which tastes porous but sweet
where are the nursing
mothers the old mothers
we waste ourselves
on anything less than women
the opinions of old stubborn men
even the miracle of frothy copper
fished from lips are like nothing
next to her
every night I’d watch her
walk out of the Adriatic I would
stay on the deck
where shearwaters levied tribute
from the gargantuan trees
she would hum coring pears
giving song unto song rending
seed from stem rendering nothing
to man or God
Kyle McCord is the author of five books of poetry including National Poetry Series Finalist Magpies in the Valley of Oleanders. His work has been featured in AGNI, Boston Review, Crazyhorse, Harvard Review, The Kenyon Review, Ploughshares, TriQuarterly and elsewhere. Kyle has received grants from the Academy of American Poets, the Vermont Studio Center, and the Baltic Writing Residency. He serves as executive editor Gold Wake Press and lives in Des Moines, Iowa where he teaches at Drake University.